Shanahan praised the character in the locker room last season when the Redskins were 3-6, pointing to it as a reason they still had a chance. He's saying the same thing now: "If you’re asking me about the character in that locker room, yeah, we’ve got a lot of character in that locker room. The new guys, you’re getting a chance to see them, see what they can do, the guys that haven’t been with us. But the guys that have been with us proved last year how they reacted to a little adversity. Some of the new guys, some of the younger guys that we just got or free agents, you’ll get a chance to see how they react to a little adversity next week.”

Shanahan isn't the only coach who feels that way. So, too, does defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. Here's what Haslett said: "I said it last week, I said, ‘I feel good about where we’re at.’ I love the way our guys practice and they’re into it. Teams that are going downhill don’t practice the way we practice. Those teams are negative. We don’t have that here. We’ve just got to go out and put a whole game together. I’m talking about offense, defense, special teams. We’ve got to put a complete game together on defense, offense, special teams. We do that then we’ll get things rolling and we haven’t done that. ... I think once as a team we get one of those, we get it together, then you can get things rolling.”

Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said Josh Morgan's playing time has been reduced because of how Leonard Hankerson has played recently. Shanahan said the competition between the two has been close since spring workouts. "Right when one guy would take a step up the next day he would take a step back and they were always right here and that’s how it was kind of at the beginning of the year," Shanahan said. "We just felt on the practice field that Hank had been stepping it up so we’ve been giving him a few more opportunities, especially on third down and stuff – more passing situations – and that’s how it’s been. Still doesn’t mean it’s final. ... Hank has definitely earned more playing time as the time has gone on.”